Alonso Jorge Solís Calderón (born October 14, 1978) is a

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

n retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

and singer who played for Saprissa as

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

or striker.

Club career

Known as ''El Mariachi'', Solís made his professional debut for

Saprissa Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá. Their colours are burgundy and white. It ...

on 28 January 1996 against

Municipal Pérez Zeledón A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

and scored his first goal on 13 April 1997 against Carmelita.

Europe

He then spent a good deal of time abroad, with Universidad Católica in Chile, OFI in Greece, and

SK Brann Sportsklubben Brann is a Norwegian professional football club based in Bergen. Founded on 26 September 1908, Brann has played in the first tier of Norwegian football for 67 out of 80 seasons, the second most of any club. They play their hom ...

in Norway.

Saprissa

Solís had an awe-inspiring 2003/4 season with Saprissa, finishing third in the league in goals with 17 while leading Saprissa to an easy first-place finish in the league. With

, he has won four national championships and a

CONCACAF Champions Cup The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, a ...

, and was part of the team that played the

2005 FIFA Club World Championship The 2005 FIFA Club World Championship (officially known as the FIFA Club World Championship Toyota Cup Japan 2005 for sponsorship reasons) was the second FIFA Club World Championship, a football competition organised by FIFA for the champion clu ...

, where

finished third behind

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. His club career was a testament to his skill and dedication to the sport. Due to his performance, at the end of the last season, he received many offers from clubs in Mexico, Brazil, and even in Costa Rica, but he decided to stay in

. Due to Walter Gaitán's injury, Solis was loaned to Necaxa for 3 months, starting on March 17, 2008. The Mexicans could not offer him a contract due to the foreign player quota. He was one of the most loved and claimed by the crowd while he played at

Deportivo Saprissa Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its Association football, football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, Costa Rica, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aym ...

. In his final game with Saprissa, visiting archrival

Liga Deportiva Alajuelense Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA, ), commonly known as Alajuelense and nicknamed La Liga (), is a Costa Rican multisport club based in the borough of El Llano, Alajuela, Alajuela province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Ala ...

, Solis scored an excellent goal, which gave them the 0–1 win, Saprissa's 9th consecutive win in the 2008 Clausura Championship. He ended up playing 292 league games for Saprissa, scoring 98 goals. In January 2012, Solís was signed by Bengal Premier League side Durgapur only to discover the league was postponed and eventually cancelled. In November 2012, he was cleared to play for LINAFA outfit San Francisco de Dos Ríos, after having officially retired In August 2013, Solís made his debut as player-manager for second division side Generación Saprissa, Saprissa's reserve team.

International career

At junior level, he played in the

1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship The 1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship was the sixth edition of the FIFA U-17 World Championship which was held in the cities of Guayaquil, Portoviejo, Quito, Ibarra, Cuenca, and Riobamba in Ecuador from 3 to 20 August 1995. Players born after ...

held in

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, and the

1997 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, known as the 1997 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Youth Championship for sponsorship purposes, was the 11th staging of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA World Youth Championship. It was held from 16 June to 5 July 1997 i ...

held in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. Solís made his debut for

in a May 1999

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and earned a total of 48 caps, scoring 8 goals. He represented his country in 18

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

matches and played at the

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, and

2007 UNCAF Nations Cup The 2007 UNCAF Nations Cup was the ninth version of the biennial association football, football tournament for the CONCACAF national teams of Central America. The event took place in San Salvador, El Salvador from February 8 to February 18, 2007. I ...

, as well as at the

2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the ninth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF), and was won by the United States over Mexico. It was contested in the United States from J ...

and the

2004 Copa América The 2004 Copa América was the 41st edition of the Copa América, the South-American championship for international association football teams. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body, and was held in P ...

. Alonso Solís's final international match was an October 2008

game against the

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

. This match marked the end of his illustrious career with

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Solis, Alonso 1978 births Living people Footballers from San José, Costa Rica Men's association football midfielders Costa Rican men's footballers Costa Rica men's international footballers 2004 Copa América players 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Deportivo Saprissa players Club Deportivo Universidad Católica footballers OFI Crete F.C. players SK Brann players Club Necaxa footballers Eliteserien players Liga FPD players Liga MX players Costa Rican expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Norway Expatriate men's footballers in Chile Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Norway Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Chile Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Greece Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Mexico